A Word with the Twins
by dreamingmarie
Summary: - Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's. I'm going to be having a word with them about who they let buy their products." HBP Written between HBP and DH.


**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Note: **This fic was written for jessica_v_darcy in the hp_holidaygen exchange on Livejournal. Many thanks to Patagonia, who, once more, did an excellent job at beta-reading. It was written between HBP and DH.

A WORD WITH THE TWINS

It was illegal, but Ron didn't care. Besides, at the moment the Ministry had many more pressing problems than underage Apparition. He gingerly touched his eyebrows, and was relieved to find they were still in place. For the first time, his destination, determination and deliberation had been perfect.

With his wand out and his eyes darting from place to place, he set out from the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley. It was still early, but there were already peddlers ready to accost him with their stuff. He paid them no attention.

He opened the door of number ninety-three. The girl whose name he thought was something like Verity was behind the counter.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the store opens at ten o'clock," she said.

"I'm Ron Weasley," answered Ron. "I'd like to speak to my brothers."

She looked at him, slightly surprised, and nodded.

"Just a moment, please," she said.

She left, and a moment later he heard her talking with Fred and George upstairs. "What is _he_ doing here?" he heard one of them say.

It was strange, he thought, but he wasn't afraid. The twins might say all kinds of rotten stuff to him, but it didn't matter anymore. Maybe that was what fighting against the Death Eaters did to you. It made you wonder why anyone would even bother to be cool. It was a bit stupid, actually, and a waste of time. He looked around at the merchandise in a detached way, wondering what might be useful for Harry, Hermione and him.

After a while, Fred arrived in the shop, tousle-haired and sleepy-eyed, with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand.

"'S up, Ron?" he asked in a yawn.

"I'm here to tell you that you should be more careful who you're selling your stuff to," he said while inspecting a Muggle chess set. He was impressed by his own casual tone.

Fred stared at him. He put his coffee on the counter and rubbed his face.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You should be careful who you're selling your stuff to," repeated Ron. "Not to the Death Eaters, for instance."

"We don't sell anything to Death Eaters!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, how did Malfoy get Instant Darkness Powder, then?"

"What Instant Darkness Powder?"

"The Instant Darkness Powder Malfoy had when he brought his pals to Hogwarts," snarled Ron. "The kind of powder he threw at us, including your sister, to leave us in the dark when we were guarding the Room of Requirement. It also happens to be the same kind of powder that you can buy in only one shop in England, which would be yours."

To his intense satisfaction, Fred's face crimsoned over.

"And how could we have known what he was using it for?" he asked.

"Oh, let me see," answered Ron, feigning intense concentration. "Draco Malfoy, Harry's sworn enemy? You know, the bloke who's always saying how great You-Know-Who is? The one who's always calling Hermione a… the same names Kreacher does? Why, his father gave Ginny You-Know-Who's diary, and he also got locked up in Azkaban for being a Death Eater! No, nobody would suspect dear little _Draco_ of being a Death Eater!"

Ron felt a tinge of guilt while saying it – after all, for a long time he had refused to listen to the same arguments from Harry. But he wasn't going to admit that to Fred.

"Well, we'll all have to bow to your superior knowledge, Ron," spat Fred, "because nobody in the Order suspected Malfoy. _Nobody._ And what do you want us to do? Ask our clients what they're going to use our products for? Check for Dark Marks on everybody's arms?"

"If it keeps the Death Eaters from attacking people, it would be a good idea, yeah."

Fred looked at him in exasperation.

"Look, we _are_ taking precautions," he said, "but we can't scare away our customers, can we? Besides, it's against the law."

"Oh, please, Fred, since when has that ever stopped you? Gone soft since Dung got sent to Azkaban?"

Fred had by now turned an ugly shade of puce.

"You know what you are, Ron?" he hissed. "You're nothing more than a self-righteous little prat. Just like Percy. We sell one product to the wrong person and you're down on us to preach and to scold us like you're Mum. It's no wonder you were made a Prefect!"

Ron had heard the comparison with Percy many times before, but for the first time he didn't feel insulted. He had repeated his answer to himself many times, and it was with distinct pleasure that he gave it.

"How many times have you fought the Death Eaters, Fred? Tell me, where were you when we went to get the Philosopher's Stone and when Ginny was in the Chamber of Secrets? Oh, you were too busy pulling pranks on people and trying to look cool, weren't you?"

He paused.

"You don't care about what happens to the Wizarding World, don't you, as long as you sell enough Fainting Fancies and… and Love Potions!"

"That's not true!" protested Fred, but Ron ignored him.

"But let me tell you something, Fred," he continued. "Remember the bloke who gave you the money to start your shop? He saved the lives of three people in the family…"

"Yeah, well, he should've stopped at two," muttered Fred. He had crossed his arms and wasn't meeting Ron's eye.

"Don't you think you could at least try not to help his enemies?"

"And where is he now, Ron? Why isn't he here to tell us himself?"

"Harry's at his aunt and uncle's, like Dumbledore told him."

"Oh, so he sent his lackey to scold the owners of the naughty little joke shop? Nice. I see _he _cares a lot about Malfoy buying our products!"

"This is about family, Fred! Bill got bitten by Greyback! Ginny could've died! Don't you have any sense of honour?"

Ron suddenly realised that he was yelling, and that he had gotten very angry. He and his brother were glaring at each other over the counter. He dimly registered that they both had their wands out and that Fred's was shooting sparks.

"What are you two screaming about?"

They turned their heads to discover George standing in the doorway, a surprised look on his face.

"Ickle Ronnikins here would like us to stop all our business because he's afraid that You-Know-Who is going to use our Love Potions to seduce everybody in the Order," answered Fred.

"What?" asked George.

"That's not true," protested Ron. "I just wanted to say that you should be more careful who you sell your products to!"

His voice was rising again.

"Yeah, I just got an owl about it from Mum," said George. He waved a piece of parchment he was holding. "She says Malfoy used our Instant Darkness Powder to help the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. She has a point, you know," he continued, turning to his twin.

"And what do you want to do about it?" asked Fred.

"Well, we could start by putting some spells on the shop to keep people with Dark Marks out," answered George. "I'm sure Lupin knows some. And we could get some extra Sneakoscopes for owl orders. I think I've got an idea to get them to pick up correspondence from untrustworthy people."

Fred shrugged. "All right," he said. "We can get started on it tonight. I'm sure that they would make a good product."

Ron suddenly felt very foolish in between his brothers.

"Er, well, I'd better go home, then, before Mum finds out I'm missing," he said, shuffling towards the door.

He nodded to the twins and sped out of the shop. He heard Fred mutter something like "prat" under his breath, but he pretended not to hear.

Destination. Determination. Deliberation.


End file.
